The Shirehorses were a spoof band comprising two

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

DJs from

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Mark Radcliffe and

Marc Riley Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Formerly a member of The Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Tape, and also w ...

, known collectively as

Mark and Lard Mark and Lard is the stage name of Mark Radcliffe (Mark) and Marc Riley (Lard), who presented various weekday shows on BBC Radio 1 from 1991 to March 2004. Career Radcliffe, then a Radio 1 producer, began presenting specialist shows on the ne ...

. As part of their

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

shows, the pair produced pastiches of chart songs, such as "You're Gormless", a parody of

Babybird Babybird are an English rock band formed by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Jones, who has been releasing music since 1995. While Jones' early solo work was released under the "Baby Bird" name, the altered "Babybird" was first use ...

's "

You're Gorgeous "You're Gorgeous" is a song by British musical project Babybird, released as a commercial single by The Echo Label on 30 September 1996. Babybird member Stephen Jones wrote the song and co-produced it with Steve Power. It was their only top-10 hi ...

", "Lardy Boy", a parody of

Placebo A placebo ( ) can be roughly defined as a sham medical treatment. Common placebos include inert tablets (like sugar pills), inert injections (like saline), sham surgery, and other procedures. Placebos are used in randomized clinical trials ...

's "

Nancy Boy "Nancy Boy" is a song by British alternative rock band Placebo, released on 20 January 1997, as the fourth single from their debut self-titled album, released on Hut Records. As with their first single " Come Home", the single edit is a re-re ...

", and "Why Is It Always Dairylea", spoofing

Travis Travis may refer to: People and fictional characters *Travis (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Travis (surname), a list of people Places in the United States *Travis, Staten Island, a neighborhood *Travis Air Force Base, a ...

's " Why Does It Always Rain on Me?", using the band names 'Baby Bloke', 'Gazebo' and 'Dave Lee Travisty' respectively. When they rewrote

The Seahorses The Seahorses were an English alternative rock band, formed in 1996 by guitarist John Squire, following his departure from The Stone Roses. The band released their debut album ''Do It Yourself'' in 1997, and began work on a follow-up before sp ...

' "Love Is the Law" as "(Now) I Know (Where I'm Going) Our Kid", they chose the stage-name Shirehorses, which they then retained for future recordings and performances. Other parodies include "I Want a Roll with It" (spoofing " Roll with It" by

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Alright Alright, All Right or Allwright may refer to: Music Albums * ''Alright!'' (album), a 2007 album by Bogdan Raczynski * ''Alright'', a 2011 album by Jerry Williams * ''All Right'', a 1982 album by Himiko Kikuchi Songs * "Alright" (Cast song) * ...

" by

Supergrass Supergrass are an English rock band formed in 1993. For the majority of the band's tenure, the line-up consisted of brothers Gaz (lead vocals, guitar) and Rob Coombes (keyboards), Mick Quinn (bass, backing vocals) and Danny Goffey (drums, ...

), and "Country Spouse" ("

Country House image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

" by Blur). The band toured extensively, playing many small, university gigs to exploit their popularity with students. However, they also performed at larger venues, supporting Blur on a 1997 UK tour, taking in several stadia, and appearing at

Glastonbury Festival The Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (commonly referred to as simply Glastonbury Festival, known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts held near Pilton, Somerset, England, in most su ...

in 1997. Marc Riley was formerly a member of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

band the Fall and later

the Creepers The Creepers were an English rock music group, formed in Manchester in 1982, originally as Marc Riley and the Creepers.Strong, Martin C.:"The Great Alternative & Indie Discography", 1999, Canongate, After being dismissed from The Fall by Mark ...

before embarking on a radio presentation career alongside Mark Radcliffe. Formerly a double act on

, in March 2004 they went their separate ways, Radcliffe initially to

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

, Riley to

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It primarily plays a wide range of alternative music, from established and emerging artists and bands. In 2002 it was the first national music radio station t ...

and later joined at the station by Mark Radcliffe as part of the afternoon Radcliffe and Maconie show.

Discography

The Shirehorses have released two albums to date: * '' The Worst...Album in the World...Ever...EVER!'', a parody of the long string of compilation albums released in the UK since the 1990s called '' The Best (genre) Album in the world ever!''. * '' Our Kid Eh'', a play on the name of

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

's album, ''

Kid A ''Kid A'' is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 2 October 2000 by Parlophone. It was recorded with their producer, Nigel Godrich, in Paris, Copenhagen, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. Departing from their ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirehorses, The British comedy rock musical groups English rock music groups Musical groups established in 1997 Musical groups disestablished in 2001 Rock music groups from Manchester British parodists Parody musicians Columbia Records artists